60 Kitchen Island Ideas That Serve Up Style and Functionality
These images of our favorite kitchen island ideas are sure to stir up design inspiration with fun, functional features around seating, storage, and more.
Kitchen islands are critical components in any kitchen. A multipurpose surface, they allow prep work, cooking, eating, working, and entertaining. For that reason, they’re also one of the most requested features in homes, both in purchases and renovations, but kitchen islands can vary tremendously in size and style, and aren’t right for every home.
The idea for Simon Pillard and Philippe Rossetti’s Lego kitchen island in Paris sprouted when Pillard put 500 blocks and a day’s worth of work into building a Lego-legged chair. They covered their kitchen island—a simple wooden block—with 20,000 Lego pieces.
Photo: Céline Clanet
If you’re considering a new kitchen or renovation, it’s important to think about how you envision using the island, given other factors that might be at play in the kitchen. For example, a kitchen island typically requires about 36" between the edge of the island and the edge of the countertop, so an island is unlikely to work well in a very long, narrow kitchen. If you’re planning on having multiple people working in the kitchen at once, then 42" to 48" should be your goal. This also goes for spaces around appliances like a sink, stove, or dishwasher, so if you’d like to integrate a sink into the island, you’ll want to plan accordingly.
In terms of the width of an island, that also depends on how you’re planning on using it, and what utilities you may want to incorporate. A typical countertop is 24" deep, and this goes for a basic kitchen island with no seating as well. However, if you’re incorporating appliances like a cooktop into the island, you should add a minimum of 8" to this depth; most designers usually assume about 36" to 42" in depth for an island, but this can vary based on the size of the kitchen and planned use. In terms of length, the average size of a kitchen island is about 3’ by 6.5’, but this can always vary.
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If your dream kitchen incorporates an island, and you’re worried you just don’t have room, think of other options, like a mobile island on castor wheels that can be moved about the space, or an island that’s only 18" deep and a bit shorter than most.
Still not sure what exactly you’re looking for in your own kitchen island, or looking for ideas and inspiration? Read on to see 60 stylish kitchens with islands, each addressing the needs and spaces of each home—everything from wheels to sinks, and cooktops to book storage. We’ll take a look at islands that demonstrate these ideas:
- Add creative seating
- Incorporate a sink
- Include a built-in stove for cooking
- Offer a bar or wine rack/fridge for entertaining
- Gain space with clever storage
Add Creative Seating
1) A Furniture Collector's Renovated Flat in Paris
Jean-Christophe Aumas’ multihued Paris apartment houses both the highly sought artistic director and the stunning assemblage of furniture he’s brought back from his travels. Aumas designed the kitchen island, which is covered in marble tiles from Carrelages du Marais—the geometric floor tiles are from the same place—and strung the matrix of lights up above it. The barstools by Charlotte Perriand were discovered in a vintage store in Antwerp, Belgium. The green wall is covered in paint from Emery & Cie.
Photo by Christian Schaulin
When architect Jaspar Jansen and his colleagues at i29 Interior Architects were commissioned to renovate a former garage in the central part of town, he sought to bring the outdoors in with natural finishes and colors. The kitchen features custom cabinetry and a large sliding door, both made from oak, that provides recessed storage space. A Foscarini Gregg Pendant hangs above the kitchen table and another over the island, which is made of oak with a thin, black stone countertop.
Ewout Huibers
In New York about two hours north of New York City, architecture and interiors firm BarlisWedlick created an eclectic compound designed to suit a client with an idiosyncratic wish list. In the kitchen, a custom Stickbulb LED lamp hangs above a kitchen island topped by concrete from Get Real Surfaces. The cabinets and island feature a modern version of a traditional board and batten siding that are given an even more contemporary feel with the concrete countertop.
Photo: Brian W. Ferry
4) A Forest Sanctuary Designed to Support Autistic Triplets, Their Parents, and a Host of Caregivers
At a home about half an hour from Lake Tahoe, architect Jack Hawkins and interior designer Cheryl Chenault built a house that would support their clients’ unique requirements in a home that would be 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. In the kitchen, two islands, one in the shape of an L and the other a smaller rectangular island, are layered table over one portion create generous space to spread out. Norman Cherner barstools from Design Within Reach line the island in the kitchen, which is crowned by an open loft office. The faucets are from Dornbracht; the countertops are Caesarstone. Hawkins integrated a steel-clad casual eating nook, at left.
Photo: Matthew Williams
In Roanoke Park, a neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, architect Matthew Hufft designed a home for his family that drew on the surrounding traditional homes. In the kitchen, Bertoia barstools are tucked under a custom honed-granite two-level kitchen island by a local company, Carthage Stoneworks. Hufft’s team designed and built the larch cabinets. The appliances are by Thermador.
Photo: Mike Sinclair
The updated kitchen features a bright white palette. The countertop is Caesarstone's Blizzard surface and the stools are Crate and Barrel. The range hood is Futuro, the refrigerator is LG, and the dishwasher is Bosch.
Photo: Mariko Reed
The firm opened up the closed off kitchen, orienting it in the center of the living space.
Photo: Lincoln Barbour
Custom kitchen cabinets designed by Pulltab and fabricated by Maciek Winiarczyk hold mostly vintage ironstone that Geiger has found at flea markets and estate sales over the past 20 years. "I love white," she says, "because I think food always looks better on it." She also collects vintage wooden cutting boards, shown resting against the marble tile backsplash from Stone Source.
Photo: João Canziani
Movable and space-saving design elements define this creative family home in the Mission District. The kitchen was given an economical revamp by adding new drawer and door fronts to the existing cabinet boxes. Countertops were replaced with custom fabricated white oak butcher block surfaces, and a complementary white oak kitchen island was installed. A Wolf range, Vent-a-Hood hood, Franke stainless steel sink, and Bosch dishwasher complete the space.
Photo: Sarah Akkoush
For a 1,500-square-foot condo in the Meatpacking District, Reddymade Design reconfigured the space to merge the kitchen, dining room, and living room into an open-plan arrangement. In the kitchen, the island unit is a modular piece by USM with a Vermont Black slate countertop. The Harry Bertoia stools are from Design Within Reach. The backsplash features Delft tiles, and the stove and range is Bertazzoni.
Photo: Ball & Albanese
With three sons in the family, the kitchen gets a lot of use. Hee barstools by Hee Welling for Hay slide up to a multi-functioning island where the family gathers to eat, study and play.
Photo: Hotze Eisma
In this kitchen and dining room, architect Bergendy Cooke rethought traditional wood panelling using black pigment-stained veneer. The kitchen has expansive surfaces, including a long, wood-topped kitchen island where the couple cook and entertain, and where the children eat and play. "All of the materials were selected for their integrity and longevity," says Bergendy.
Photo: Paul McCredie
The renovation of a 2,000-square-foot property updates a century-old design for a family of four. "We placed the kitchen at the center of the house to link with the dining room and the outdoor space," Moreau says. In the kitchen, a Wolf oven brings out the silver details in Coit’s Bianco Cararra backsplash and island. Hee bar stools by Hay are lined under the island.
Photo: Adrien Williams
By eliminating walls and incorporating a series of interior gardens, architect José Roberto Paredes creates an eclectic and inspired El Salvador beach house. In the kitchen, rough-hewn materials like a eucalyptus-log-and-thatch roof offset the monolithic concrete island and glossy subway tile backsplash. Claudia & Harry Washington built the vivid wooden sliding walls, which are inspired by the palm leaves that change color and create diagonal patterns in trees near the house. The bar stools were a street market discovery.
Photo: Jason Bax
A new kitchen at the front of the house completes the trifecta of reworked rooms on the main level. It fits nicely into the notion of balancing new and old elements throughout the house, with oak detailing married to exposed brick, offset by strip lamps. The Hee bar stools are by HAY, the Caravaggio P3 pendants are by Light Years, and the range oven is from Britannia.
The kitchen island, also Douglas fir, showcases the material’s rich striations and color variations. Behind the kitchen are two bedrooms and a single bathroom. A large open air pavilion, built concurrently with the cabin, can be seen from the windows on the right.
Photo Courtesy of Zachary Edelson
Incorporate a Sink
17) Skype Lets a Family Renovate Their Kitchen 3,700 Miles Away
Australian expats Carla and Paul Tucker tasked designer Dan Gayfer with expanding their Melbourne bungalow without adding any square footage. In the kitchen, a soft palette of wood, laminate, and tile created cohesion, impressive considering the clients didn’t see a single finish, color, or material in person prior to their homecoming. The kitchen cabinets were clad in Russian birch plywood, and the countertops were concrete.
Photo: Dean Bradley
A couple takes a minimalist approach to their Brooklyn apartment, focusing on supple materials, subtle gradations of color, and custom finishes by local craftsmen. The Mandayam–Vohra family gathers under one of Workstead’s signature three-arm chandeliers, shown here in its horizontal configuration. Bartenschlager designed the white cabinets and is responsible for the walnut counters both on the kitchen island and near the stove.
Photo: Matthew Williams
Painters accomplished the high-gloss finish on the cabinets of a kitchen in San Francisco by applying a coat of paint, polishing it with very high-grit sandpaper, repeating the process for each layer, then topping it with three coats of clear varnish. "It’s like an auto body," says builder Jeff King. "It’s incredibly beautiful." The island provides shelving space and storage as well as a second sink, an is topped with pietra grigio marble.
Photo: Joseph Dominguez
The acclaimed Italian designers Ludovica+Roberto Palomba carved a serene retreat out of a 17th-century oil mill in Salento, Italy, filling it with custom creations and their greatest hits. In their minimalist kitchen: sleek steel cabinet systems and the Kono range hood from Elmar. The multi-functional stainless steel island measures 20" deep and was designed by the couple for Elmar.
Photo: Francesco Bolis
Guess used inexpensive graded pine plywood so that he would get heavy grain patterns on the surfaces. One of the main goals in the kitchen was simplicity. To that end, he opted for a poured-in-place concrete island. "We didn’t know if we could afford to do that, but we found a great subcontractor [Nate Francis of Countertop Creations] here who had never really built anything like that," Guess says. "Because he was interested in giving it a shot and adding it to his portfolio, he didn’t charge an exorbitant amount of money because it was sort of an experiment for him as well." The kitchen features a GE Profile refrigerator and KitchenAid range, microwave, and dishwasher. The sink and faucet are from Kohler. The project's builder was Joe Doherty with Custom Homecrafters of Austin.
Sean Guess
The dining room is delineated from the kitchen by a long kitchen island with a higher partition between the two spaces. The island provides storage along its length, with exposed shelving at the ends. The drum lighting pendants by Axiom were also made using local timber.
Photo: Ben Hosking
For the kitchen, American cherry wood was used to create cabinets that establish a warm and sturdy tone. Each piece of lumber was purchased at auction by the Brillharts and stored in New Hampshire, before being shipped to Miami and milled on site. The wood island is painted black to provide a point of visual contrast. Himalayan marble countertops and stainless steel appliances lend moments of clean modernism to the kitchen, which is flooded with bright light thanks to patio windows that open to the yard.
Photo by Emma Janzen
The entire living and dining space features tough polished concrete floors. The architects intentionally contrasted the darker concrete and veneered pantry against the neutral white walls and marble. This color play runs through the renovated areas.
Photo: Michael Kai
Mark Fekete and Viviana de Loera, co-founders of interdisciplinary design firm MARK + VIVI, happily took on the challenge of building their dream home in a transitioning Montreal neighborhood. The couple's kitchen is an exercise in both sustainability and creativity. The island is wrapped with reclaimed scrap wood uncovered from the house during demolition. Chalkboard walls provide a whimsical canvas for graphic images and notes. Stainless steel was selected for the kitchen countertops, and the pair relied on a local industrial sheet metal fabricator to help them prepare the material for residential application. The mix of warm and cool adds depth and dimension to the space.
Photo: Adrien Williams
In this kitchen in Australia, a freestanding island is lit by a skylight and track lighting, while the texture and color of the siding of the island provide a marked contrast to the dark cabinetry of the rest of the kitchen. An oversized sink makes the island an ideal prep space.
Leibal
Two sinks with angular faucets make this white and wood kitchen island the main prep area in this California kitchen. A long kitchen table protrudes out from the island in a contrasting dark stone with polished nickel legs for a strong visual demarcation between the island and the table, although the two are physically connected.
Photo: Matthew Millman
Twin daughters Merle and Anine join their parents in the family’s kitchen, designed by Jensen for Vipp. He explains that his role as chief designer at Vipp is to "work with their DNA" by refining the company’s trademark materials: stainless steel, painted metal, and rubber. For the utilitarian kitchen, "we wanted to get the feeling of a tool," he says. "It’s nice to have a space where you can actually work." The gas stovetop is by ABK and the refrigerator is by Smeg; Le Perroquet spotlights are from iGuzzini.
Photo: Anders Hviid
29) Alta Laguna 2
Sitting on a spot that provides a commanding view of the ocean and hills beyond, this California home underwent a major renovation of the kitchen after the homeowners purchased it in foreclosure. A new entry space was created out of an unused hallway and the glazed door and side panels let in even more light, and the all-white kitchen with white countertops and cabinets features an oversized sink.
Photo: Chad Mellon
At a seaside New Zealand house, the simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The bright green cabinetry of the island are a happy pop of color that references the native greenery outside.
Photo: Matthew Williams
With clever storage and a retractable skylight, a London apartment designed by metalworker and owner Simone ten Hompel and Roger Hynam of Rogeroger Design Solutions feels larger than its 576 square feet. The team worked in a uniquely collaborative way, with Ullmayer Sylvester planning the space, Hynam creating the built-in storage and the kitchen island, and ten Hompel making models and scrawling on the wall to better envision their proposals. The kitchen island features a compact cooktop by Whirlpool and an integrated drainboard incised into the countertop for easy cleaning.
Photo: Joakim Blockstrom
The House of Earth + Light had been featured in the pages of the New York Times and on the cover of Dwell’s premiere issue, and was revisited years later. In the kitchen, an elegant palette of materials defines the open space. The rear counter is sanded stainless steel; the island counter is Purpleheart (an exotic hardwood) with a range by Dacor.
Photo: Daniel Hennessy
In an apartment renovation in Tel Aviv by Maya Sheinberger, a white and black kitchen comes together in a white island with black base and black bar stools by infiniti.
Itay Benit
A green laminate countertop by Abet Laminati is surrounded by Norman Foster’s Emeco 20-06 counter stools at the island in the kitchen, which has an integrated Frigidaire induction range, Faber Cylindra Isola range hood, Blomberg dishwasher, Fisher & Paykel fridge, and flat-grain fir plywood cabinets by Portland craftsman Doug Chamblin. A Louis Poulsen PH 5 pendant illuminates a Modernica Tenon Table and Eames Molded Plastic chairs with Eiffel bases. A George Nelson Ball Clock hangs nearby.
Photo: Jeremy Bittermann
35) Chef's Table
In Chicago’s Lower West Side, editorial director Chelsea Jackson and and her chef husband Arthur renovated their fourth-floor condominium to include a custom Bulthaup kitchen. "We wanted to find a kitchen island that would be light enough to make the room seem large while still standing up to heavy-duty cooking," Chelsea notes. Calls to kitchen retailers were fruitless until Arthur reached the Bulthaup showroom, where the staff suggested he come check out a floor model of the discontinued System 20 kitchen. The stainless steel island, with its precise profile and gas cooktop, was exactly what the couple was after, and they bought it on the spot. A full Bulthaup kitchen—completed with components from the B3 range—would soon become the centerpiece of their new home.
Photo: Matthew Williams
In the kitchen, an island countertop serves as a mixed-use area for cooking, storage, and seating for up to five people. The room opens up to an outdoor dining area.
Photo: ArchiBlox
A Boston loft in a former textile factory receives a minimal, efficient kitchen at the hands of Bunker Workshop. In the kitchen, the island features a stainless steel countertop with a gas cooktop, oven, and a brick half wall.
Matt Delphenich
A pair of environmentally attuned architects combined adjoining properties in a Los Angeles canyon to house their modernist menagerie. With exposed industrial materials for finishes, the interior includes hand-troweled, waxed concrete floors, Douglas fir beams, and sealed-plywood ceilings. The open kitchen’s island, topped with soapstone, doubles as a bookcase for the living room.
Photo: Catherine Ledner
Offer a Bar or Wine Rack/Fridge For Entertaining
39) Reinventing a Traditional Edwardian near Lake Ontario
A movable island, set on stainless steel casters, sits in the center of the kitchen. The Panasonic microwave is built into the cabinetry and the August pendant lights illuminating the island are by Uberhaus.
Photo: Shai Gil
40) Beantown Dream
Avid cooks, Jinhee and John spend part of every day around their custom-built kitchen island, surrounded by Compasso d’Oro barstools. The island is on castors, so it easily moves around the kitchen as needed. An edamame plant on their patio occasionally provides leaves for Korean dishes.
Photo: Roger Davies
A barrier-free house enables a family to come together amid the vineyards in Northern California. The kitchen is fully accessible and yet not institutional, with room for both extended family and a caregiver, and the ability to move between indoors and out without having to negotiate a single barrier. The island contains a micro kitchen for the family’s daughter, who is in a wheelchair, with a sink, refrigerator, and warming drawers within easy reach. The pendant is from Global Lighting.
Photo: Carlos Chavarría
Who says kitchen islands can’t work in small spaces too? A design-minded pair ensures that their tiny seaside getaway in Hampshire, England, is shipshape. At 538 square feet, this home is efficiently designed, with an interior that was influenced by the compact housing that you see in Japan. The kitchen and island have been sized to fit the small space, but the island’s minimal finishings keep it feeling appropriate.
Photo: Ben Anders
At this home in Sun Valley, the clients wanted a modern house that would feel authentic to the high desert mountain landscape, in a style dubbed "mountain industrial." Everything that touches the earth is stone and board-formed concrete, and everything that projects out is steel and glass, down to the kitchen island, which features two levels, an integrated sink, custom cabinetry, and polished nickel hardware.
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Smitten from the start with a 1970s concrete villa in rural Belgium, a resident and her designer embark on a sensitive renovation that excises the bad (carpeted walls, dark rooms) and highlights the good (idyllic setting, statement architecture). Owner Nathalie Vandemoortele worked with designer Renaud de Poorter on the interior renovations, which included opening up the heavy structure with the help of new windows and doors to the outside. A concrete bi-level island keeps the Brutalist vibe on the interior, but is open and light enough to feel balanced.
Photo: Frederik Vercruysse
A short wall on the kitchen island hides clutter and keeps the straight lines of the design unmarred. Almost every lighting fixture, including the overhead Artemide Tolomeo light, is movable. The refrigerator and oven are from Fisher and Paykel.
Photo: Adrien Williams
Aaron and Yuka Ruell transformed a 1950s Portland ranch house into a retro-inspired family home with plenty of spaces for their four children to roam. In the kitchen, interior designer Emily Knudsen Leland replaced purple laminate cabinets with flat-sawn eastern walnut, and added PentalQuartz countertops in polished Super White for contrast. The kitchen island is clad with original red tiles, and hanging cabinets above it were removed to maximize light and family-room views.
Photo: Grant Harder
Gain Space With Clever Storage
47) Modern Texas Prefab by Aamodt / Plumb and Bella Mancini Design
A generously sized kitchen in a prefabricated home in Texas features crisp white cabinetry, contrasting with textured stone walls and a dark stone countertop. The kitchen features two islands that work together to form an L and a smaller rectangular island with castors sitting inside the L for additional prep space and mobility.
Photo: Casey Dunn
At this home renovation in England, the architects kept the interiors minimal and stripped back, allowing for extra space to be used by the family as they pleased. A kitchen island with exposed plywood on the interior but painted on the exterior doubles up as a breakfast bar, and holds storage space for three Magis swivel beech barstools to be tucked away when not in use.
Photo Courtesy of Bobby Jewell
At a home in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico that was designed as a collaboration between Gilberto L. Rodríguez, of GLR Arquitectos, and Alberto Campo Baeza, of Estudio Campo Baeza, the architects sought to pay homage to Mexican architect Luis Barragán. A strong presence of light and color are at play throughout the house, including the kitchen, where a clean white kitchen island covers bright neon yellow storage. The cabinets are translucent, seeming to glow from within, and provide a focal point in the otherwise white and black kitchen.
Javier Callejas Sevilla
Taking inspiration from barns, warehouses, Case Study Houses, and Japanese residential architecture, architect Marcus Lee and his wife, Rachel Hart—an architectural model maker—created a unique timber-framed home in Hackney, London. In the kitchen, the Corian kitchen island unit acts as a real hub with a television tucked away under the worktop. However, the kids sit at the island for breakfast and other meals, and when guests come, they end up sitting there and talking while the owners are cooking.
Photo: Jeremy Murch
On a sought after an idyllic island in the center of Amsterdam an old warehouse, formerly in use as a pillow factory and a garage has been converted to a warm and eclectic family home. The kitchen features a mixture of green tiles, green painted mullions, and exposed wood beams for a warm, soft feeling that contrast sharply with the more industrial stainless steel island. The kitchen island incorporates a stove top and storage, and benefits from natural light from the skylight overhead.
Photo: Alexander David Jansen
In a mountain retreat in the Czech Republic near the border with Germany, Martina Schultes designed a kitchen that brings the outside in, with wood plank paneling used on the walls and the kitchen island. The island and countertops are topped with black laminate, and the backsplash is a green marble.
Robert Zakovic
By using color, wood, and polished concrete floors, this apartment in Berlin is full of personality. In the kitchen, polished statuario marble covers both the island's countertop and the backsplash in the custom kitchen cabinet block. PSLAB designed the light fixtures, and the island has open shelving incorporated into it for easy access to cookbooks and other reading material.
Jens Bösenberg
Architect Kevin Alter integrated wood from the original bungalow into the kitchen and covered the island in Carrara marble, with an interior clad in wood. A long table extends from the side of the island, and wine storage is integrated into one end of the island. New appliances include a Wolf range, a Broan hood, and a Miele oven and refrigerator. The Fucsia pendant lights are by Achille Castiglioni for Flos.
Photo: Casey Dunn
For a Toronto couple with a love of minimalist Japanese architecture, a sleek, storage-packed kitchen was the first priority in their home's renovation. In the kitchen, white oak used for the cabinets, kitchen island, and dining table is finished with double-boiled linseed oil, which can be reapplied by the homeowners as the wood mellows and patinas. The custom beveled edge for the island's "Blizzard" white Caesarstone countertop forgoes the standard one-inch countertop overhang to save on space and maintain a sleek feel. A Vola faucet is used with a sink by Mekal.
Photo: Bob Gundu
This apartment, overlooking the beautiful beach and the urban views of Tel Aviv, was built in the late 1990s and hadn't been renovated since, until designer Maya Sheinberger came in. The kitchen cabinets were chosen in a grey color with a matte finish and for the countertops, the designer chose a bright Dekton with marble texture. Above the kitchen island, which is used for cooking and for light family meals, are three wooden lighting fixtures by Israeli designer Ohad Benit.
Itay Benit
Tucked away in the woods of Denmark, furniture design company Kobenhavens Mobelsnedkeri designed this vacation retreat that boats a striking pitch-black kitchen island. The home features a restrained color palette complemented with natural touches; the floor is a delicate pale oak, which contrasts with the bold statement of the dark cabinets and island.
Photo by Line Thit Klein
Viola Park ranks high on the list of great, modern kitchen systems and offers a range of kitchen islands. Among the features in their islands is the Pivot Storage System, shown here. Mounted below the counter to preserve counter space, the wood bins can be outfitted as knife block, utensil holder, or garbage bin. The system conveniently keeps your utensils where you need them, without taking up much-valued counter space.
Courtesy of Viola Park
In Auckland, New Zealand, architect Michael O’Sullivan and his partner Melissa Schollum braved a miniscule budget, withering looks from friends, and nasty nail-gun injuries to design and build their perfectly proportioned family home. The reflectivity of the brass kitchen island makes it seem to dematerialize.
Photo by Patrick Reynolds
A young Vancouver family asked Falken Reynolds Interiors to convert their waterfront vacation home on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast into their primary residence. To facilitate livability for the foursome, an enlarged kitchen, complete with a large white island with wood hardware, was a major part of the renovation.
Photo: Ema Peter